Unlike other polls which show a narrowing race, Quinnipiac University released a poll of registered voters Wednesday morning that finds former Gov. Charlie Crist, the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate, with a solid lead over Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

The poll shows Crist taking 48 percent while Scott wins 38 percent. Quinnipiac had Crist leading Scott by 8 percent in a January poll and by 7 percent in a November poll. Scott does better against former Florida Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich, beating her 42 percent to 36 percent.

"So far, Florida Gov. Rick Scott's television barrage apparently has had no impact on the race,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “The incumbent has not been able to reduce former Gov. Charlie Crist's lead. In fact, voters see Crist's party switch in a positive light and the incumbent's effort to tie Crist's support for Obamacare has not yet borne fruit."

The Q-poll relies, it should be pointed out, on a sample of 31 percent Democrats and 25 percent Republicans, an unusually low percentage of GOP voters in an off-year election.

Scott remains upside down in the poll with 39 percent of those surveyed holding a favorable view of the governor, while 46 percent see him as unfavorable. Crist gets better marks, with 43 percent seeing him in a favorable light and 36 percent viewing him as unfavorable. Scott did about the same when voters were asked about their take on his performance in Tallahassee, with 42 percent approving of it but 50 percent disapproving. A majority -- 52 percent -- approve of Crist’s 2006-2010 tenure as governor, while 38 percent disapprove.

A majority -- 53 percent -- say Scott doesn’t deserve a second term in office; 39 percent think he does. Despite this, 51 percent say they are at least somewhat satisfied with the way things are going in Florida while 48 percent say they are not satisfied.

Scott is seen as honest and trustworthy by 38 percent of those surveyed while 51 percent think he is not. Voters are divided about Crist, with 45 percent saying he is honest and trustworthy, while 43 percent say he isn’t. Asked whether the candidates care about people, 48 percent of voters say Crist does while 38 percent think Scott does. A majority -- 55 percent -- think Scott doesn’t care about people like them while 42 percent think Crist doesn’t. Crist is seen as a strong leader by 55 percent while 49 percent say that about Scott. But 37 percent don’t think of the Democrat as a strong leader, while 44 percent think the governor isn’t either. Asked who is more compassionate, 50 percent say Crist and 35 percent say Scott.

"Florida voters think former Gov. Crist is more compassionate, more honest and trustworthy and was a better governor than Gov. Scott,” Brown said. “The difference may be simple: voters like Crist, whose strength always has been his ability to connect. Voters sometimes elect candidates they don't like personally, but not that often."

A slim majority -- 52 percent -- say Crist’s jump from the Republicans to the Democrats is a positive while 40 percent think it’s a negative.

Rich remains largely unknown, with 8 percent viewing her as favorable, 5 percent seeing her as unfavorable and 85 percent saying they don’t know enough about her. Among Democrats Rich does better. with 15 percent seeing her as favorable and 2 percent unfavorable, but 83 percent say they don’t know enough about her to hold an opinion.

The poll of 1,413 registered Florida voters was taken April 23-28 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percent.

Comments (7)

Steven Dorries

1:38PM MAY 1ST 2014

I know that Quinnipiac refuses to include Adrian Wyllie in their polls, but I know that you know that he's in the race. I know that you know that he's going to be in the televised debates. Why do you continue to not include him in your articles?

What Florida is seeing from Rick Scott is more and more of the privatizing which began in earnest under his protege Jeb Bush. They hit a snag with the massive prison privatization efforts thanks to a few good people formerly in the legislature and other places - the juvenile prisons system is 100% privatized and now without most of the people in Florida knowing it and most of the people in Florida not caring because they think it does not personally affect them. Rick Scott and his friends in the medical business have privatized Florida Medicaid into MANAGED CARE operated by their top friends in the medical services industry.

Million and million more of our tax dollars going to private for profit friends of Rick Scott and Jeb Bush. Apparently if those on medicaid do not chose from their list of providers the state chooses UNITED HEALTHCARE as their service provider for them.

Here is just another reason why Scott trails.
Rick Scott visits senior citizens looking for problems with AHA and instead finds praise. Scott is such a fool and so out of touch he now looks ridiculous. The following posted in Huff Post:

“It’s apparent that Rick Scott will say about anything, even untruths, to Florida’s seniors. He continues to overlook the fact that changes to Medicare Advantage were halted by President Obama and PolitiFact has rated Rick Scott’s claims on this issue to be `mostly false.’

“As far his campaigning on state time during the legislative session, I think the public is seeing more and more evidence of Governor’s Scott’s failure of leadership. Whether the issue is health care, education, equal pay for women, or raising the minimum wage, Florida isn’t seeing leadership from Governor Rick Scott and the Republican-run Legislature," Thurston said.

They are both Mel Sembler friends - it's just that CharLIE is now once removed! CharLIE was a Sembler "SEED" graduate! Who knows what Rick Scott is? He can't even remember being a Dallas Texas lawyer with the Johnson and Swanson firm and representing Tom Hicks and George W. Bush or being partners in the Texas Rangers with them!

Mr. Medicare Fraud Rick Scott took over for Jeb's South Florida hospital fraud friend Miguel Recarey, (IMC) - after Jeb made the phone calls to Washington DC to up the Medicare ante for him!

CharLIE Crist with friends like Harry Sergent and that former young rising star in the Republican Party that boasted to witnesses of his sexual relationship with Charlie Crist, the frontrunner in the Florida governor's race who has repeatedly denied that he is gay.

The GOP staffer, 21-year-old Jason Wetherington, told friends at separate social functions in August 2005 that he had sex with Crist, according to two credible and independent sources who heard Wetherington make the claim first-hand.

It gets better: a convicted thief - and someone Crist claims "he can't remember meeting" but others clearly remember them knowing one another quite well - is Crist's long time lover:

Wetherington, who worked as a field director for U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris and worked for state representative Ellyn Bodganoff's reelection campaign, also named a man whom he said is Crist's long-term partner, a convicted thief named Bruce Carlton Jordan who also worked for Harris in her long-shot Senate bid.

Jordan made headlines recently when the Miami Herald learned that the felon was working as Harris's travel aide. The newspaper noted that Jordan, 42, was reported to be close friends with Charlie Crist, whom he convinced to attend an annual Florida Funeral Directors Association meeting in 2003.

Jordan was charged in 2003 with stealing thousands of dollars from two organizations for whom he worked, including the Tallahassee-based Florida Funeral Directors Association, where he served as executive director. He completed a 60-day jail sentence in February and will be on probation until the year 2011, according to state records.

When the Herald questioned Crist about Jordan, the then frontrunner in the governor's race told the newspaper that he doesn't remember the man. "I don't know who Bruce Jordan is," he said at the time. "It doesn't mean I haven't met him. I don't know who you are speaking about."

They are both up to this eyeballs in corruption that should have put both of them behind bars for life! And, they are or were both protected by the establishment, the Florida branch of which is run by Jeb Bush.

Why then don't they just save all the smoke and mirror's and "re-anoint" which ever one they want most. These criminals always have at least two candidates in each race!

Apparently 48% have amnesia, dementia or are just plain delusional. The state of Florida went down the drain as Crist partied and campaigned for a senate seat the last 2 years he was governor. Someone please name me one positive thing Crist accomplished as Governor of this state, or for that matter anything he has accomplished at all.

The first and most positive accomplishment of Governor Charlie Crist that comes to mind was, after a great battle and only after recruiting the help of the Supreme Court of Florida:
He caused to be impaneled The Nineteenth State Wide Grand Jury [case number SC-09-1910]
Ttitled “A STUDY OF THE PUBLIC CORRUPTION IN FLORIDA.” The Grand Jury released it’s finding and recommendations on December, 29, 2010. When Rick Scott become Governor of Florida he promptly dismissed all of the Grand Jury finding and ignored the recommendations.
And in case you haven’t noticed Florida is up to it’s rear end in “official corruption.”
Now Jim Greer says he’s got a tell all book coming out on some disputed date in June 2014.
Greer probably suffered from dementia when he got to that chapter!